


Then and Now

by sunflower1343



Category: Finder no Hyouteki | Finder Series
Genre: Characters' past
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-10
Updated: 2016-05-10
Packaged: 2018-06-07 14:37:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6809260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunflower1343/pseuds/sunflower1343
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Asami meets Suoh for the first time</p>
            </blockquote>





	Then and Now

**Author's Note:**

> This was a birthday gift for Christine on LJ, who loved Suoh, though we didn't know his name at the time so we called him Akira, which is how he's still referenced in her fics, and originally in this one. I renamed him to Suoh to post here since that's who he is. :) I always liked imagining the ways Asami gathered his men about him. I wrote this one down, March 2007.
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He could remember the time before he met him. He just didn't like to. What was the point? His life had truly started that day.

Half foreign, half Japanese, always scorned. The boys had discovered that while he was big, he didn't fight back and so made an easy target for their bullying. It wasn't that he couldn't stop them. He could easily have hurt them, and would have enjoyed it. But whenever he actually acted on it he heard that crack and scream all over again. He saw his young brother's arm hanging useless. And worse, saw the accusation in eyes that until then had adored him. No, they could hit him, and while he didn't like it, he would take it because it made the eyes go away. 

He'd borne it that morning as usual, quietly clenching his fists so he wouldn't strike back, waiting until they were done, then sitting alone with the pain more in relief that it was over again than anything else.

"Why do you put up with it?"

He blinked, trying to clear the blood from his eye, and looked up toward the voice. The sunlight filtered around the shadow standing over him. For a moment he remembered the Christian church near his family's home. There had been a window with their god in it, rays of light pouring from him in his glory. But he knew no god would want anything to do with him. He squinted a bit. He couldn't see very clearly for the glare and the pain, and wasn't sure if this was some new punishment.

"Come on. Let's get you cleaned up." And a hand moved toward him. This he understood. Everything else faded from view as he froze, waiting for the hand to continue downward and strike him. But it didn't. It just hovered, waiting. He stared at it, confused. What was he supposed to do with it? 

The person above him sighed, sounding frustrated and bent further and reached for his arm and started to pull him up.

He came to his senses. It was one thing to take the punishment himself. But another shouldn't have to. "Don't. They'll hurt you too."

The shadow crouched down and coalesced into a boy. He didn't recognize him. He must have been a new kid. Very good looking. Very cocky. A cigarette hung from his lips and bounced as he talked, but never quite fell. He found himself wishing he was that cigarette and was mortified.

The kid smirked. "I hope they do try to hurt me. I need to teach someone here a lesson so they all understand that they don't want to mess with me. I'd thought it might be you, but I'd rather it be someone who deserves it."

The boy wasn't all that big, not compared to him, but for some reason he seemed the biggest one in the schoolyard.

It dawned on him. "You're not afraid of them. You're not afraid of standing out." 

That won him a quick grin. "Afraid? I want to stand out. I'll do whatever I damned well please and they'll be the ones afraid to say anything. Someday, I'll make all my own rules, like an emperor. But for now, I'm just looking for people who want to live the same way. What do you say? Do you want to live without fear, the way you want to live? If you stay by my side, I'll promise that you will."

The difference between god and boy was again narrowing.

He hesitated though. He was slow but no fool. "Why me? No one else wants me."

Golden eyes considered him. "The people no one else wants are the people I want. We understand how to stand on our own two feet and fight with all we have. We will always succeed, so long as we don't go soft."

A scream echoed in his mind. "I don't want to hurt someone who doesn't deserve it."

The boy gave him a curious look. "And how do you decide who deserves it? It seems those boys do, for what they did to you. I sure as hell wouldn't put up with it."

He shrugged one shoulder. The other was in too much pain to move. "I can take it. I always have. But I don't ever want to cause pain to someone else again."

The eyes regarding him hardened. "Don't you? That's not what my eyes saw. I saw anger and hatred, and then resignation to something that made you bow your head and take it. What's keeping you from fighting? Do you get off on being beaten?" The eyes began to take on a strange new light.

He blinked slowly under their hypnotic effect and spoke honestly. "No, I don't get off on it. But it's only what I deserve."

The eyes regarding him returned to normal, as normal as they'd ever appear. "I happen to think though, that you don't deserve it."

"You don't know. You don't understand. He'll never forgive me if I fight back."

"I get the feeling that he'll never forgive you even if you don't."

He jerked his head back in shock. Of course he would... Someday, if he were punished enough... But the boy's words, sharp as only truth can be, chipped at the shell he'd built around himself until he saw it start to crumble.

"Tell me what happened."

He focused his eyes again on the figure in front of him, the one who seemed to be reading more deeply into his mind that he could himself. And for the first time since that day he found words pouring out in confession, because he knew they'd be understood. When he finished, he simply waited for judgment. 

It was odd. That's what he'd thought the beatings were, judgment. But those people knew nothing of him and his circumstances. This one knew everything. This one was the one that mattered, the only one who could grant him absolution.

His eyes followed the cigarette butt that was dropped into the dust and ground out by a shiny black shoe that rasped loudly in the near silent yard. It seemed to be happening too slowly, everything louder and clearer than it should be.

"I never had a brother. That's not nice, fucking up your little brother like that when he didn't do anything to you."

His heart sank, making the words that followed all the more effective.

"But really, he's not dead is he? If he spends his time bitching about his arm, then he isn't worth your time. And if he's forgotten about it, then you should too. Why are you dwelling on the past? We can't change it. We can only change what's ahead of us. It's up to you, you know. Do you want to stagnate here for the rest of your life, or do you want to get on with living?"

No one had ever spoken to him like that. Accepting what happened as bad but not earth-shattering. He was an outcast from his family, living with an uncle who had no time for him. They all stared at him in disgust and saw only that one day, that one moment. It had defined him, from then until now, unchanging.

But this person, he saw something different. He did see the past, and saw it honestly. But his eyes turned toward the future, and saw that as far more important. Always looking ahead. Always seeing potential. Even in a clod like him. And he had said "we".

He tried it on for size. "What would _we_ do?"

A grin flashed over the other face, showing strong white teeth. He had a momentary vision of them pointed and covered in blood. He shook his head, and it cleared.

"That's simple. We head for the top and don't let anyone stand in our way. The fewer people there are above us, the fewer people who can tell us what to do. With my brains and your muscle, we've got a good start."

"So you just want me to beat people up for you?" Disappointment welled up.

The kid shook his head. "I want you to be my right hand man. Part assistant, part bodyguard. My protection. You take care of me, I take care of you. It would be a mutual thing. We'd get others to beat people up so our hands stay clean. You just have to look dangerous. And frankly, you're already mostly there. We just have to get rid of the tears and snot on your face. So what do you say?" 

It wasn't quite friendship, but it was camaraderie. That was something he'd never enjoyed before. No one else had ever thought him worth much of anything, especially himself, and this marvelous boy actually said he valued him and would take care of him. He could see it in those golden eyes, a determination that said "Give me your loyalty and I'll never let you down," and he believed, and even fell in love a little.

He took the hand that was again offered, its warmth and strength going straight though him. That touch would stay with him like the memory of a first kiss. He rose to his feet and stood, towering over the handsome boy, whose eyebrows drew together in amusement as he looked him up and down. "I think this is going to work out just fine. What's your name by the way?"

"Kazumi." He didn't bother with a last name. This one already knew him intimately. He gave him the rights of a lover without hesitation.

"Kazumi. That's a good name. I'm Asami Ryuichi."

"Asami... sama." Yes. Like a god.

"Sama, huh? I like that. Come on, Kazumi. Let's go play with those guys who did this to you. And I don't intend to lose."

No, he could see that this one would never settle for less than complete victory. And he liked the idea of winning for a change too.

He wiped the blood from his face, and sent a quick apologetic thought to his brother. But for some reason, he couldn't bring the memory forth this time. His thoughts were filled with fierce golden eyes and a knowing smile. And they left room for no other.

"Yes, Asami-sama...."

 

"Yes, what? Where's your head today, Kazumi? That's the second time I've caught you day-dreaming."

He glanced in the limo's rear view mirror. Asami was browsing through some papers. His eyes met the golden ones for a second when the man looked up and spoke again. "Thinking of your girlfriend?" 

Those eyes were more knowing than ever. Age had only made the man more perceptive. He looked away. "I was thinking of the day we met."

There was a chuckle from the backseat. "We were a scruffy pair, weren't we?"

 _You were never scruffy._ "We were determined. No one ever beat us, then or now." _Us._

He looked into the back seat, wanting to share another glance, but the eyes were fixed outside the car, and there was a small smile on that still-handsome face. He followed the look to catch a glimpse of a tousled light-brown head of hair darting through the crowd. 

"Bring him to my apartment by the bay tonight, 23:00."

His fists clenched on the steering wheel.

"Yes, Asami-sama."

What else was he going to say? After all, he'd chosen their roles long ago. He'd placed Asami on a pedestal too high for him to reach.

"23:00. I'll have him there for you, Asami-sama."

In the back seat, another little smile went unnoticed.

 

 

~end~


End file.
